Dental health at the transition from the Late Antique to the early Medieval period on Croatia's eastern Adriatic coast

Abstract

Dento-alveolar pathologies: caries, ante mortem tooth loss, abscesses, calculus, alveolar resorption and tooth wear were analysed in two composite skeletal series from Croatia's eastern Adriatic coast (Dalmatia). The first consists of 103 skeletons from seven Late Antique (3rd-6th century AD) sites, the second of 151 skeletons from three Early Medieval (7th-11th centuries AD) sites. As recent bioarhaeological studies (Š laus, 2008) showed a significant increase of disease loads and trauma frequencies in Dalmatia during the Early Medieval period, the aim of this study was to investigate whether dental health was equally adversely affected by the Late Antique/Early Medieval transition. The results of our analyses show that the frequencies of carious lesions, ante mortem tooth loss, abscesses and alveolar resorption increased significantly during the Early Medieval period, as did the degree of heavy occlusal wear on posterior teeth. These data suggest a change in alimentary habits, with a significantly higher dependence on carbohydrates and a greater reliance on hard, fibrous foods requiring vigorous mastication in the Early Medieval diet. The combination of higher calculus and lower caries rates in the Late Antique series similarly suggests more protein in the Late Antique diet and is, therefore, also consistent with the hypothesised change in alimentary habits. In general (the two exceptions are male caries and female alveolar resorption frequencies) lesion frequencies increased uniformly in both sexes suggesting that the deterioration of dental health during the Early Medieval period equally affected males and females. Cumulatively, the collected data suggest that the political, social, economic and religious changes that characterised the Late Antique/Early Medieval transition in Dalmatia resulted in a clear discontinuity, not only from the cultural, but also from the biological point of view with an evident deterioration of oral health during the Early Medieval period.

Dental health and diet in early medieval Ireland

“…Again, a similar distribution and a preferential proximal position of caries was observed in a number of medieval populations. 4,6,7,15,22,24,25,67 The prevalence of ante-mortem tooth loss in the analysed series corresponds well to the results recorded in other medieval collections. [4][5][6][7]15,65 Due to the fact that the aetiology of AMTL is multifactorial one has to be very careful when interpreting such data, 7,15,42 especially since paleodontological analysis cannot determine the exact cause of the tooth loss.…”

“…The total caries prevalence in the Irish medieval sample is 3% which is lower when compared to frequencies in adult individuals from other medieval populations where these values range between 8 and 17.5%. [5][6][7]9,11,[22][23][24] Most paleodontological analyses agree on the correlation between caries rates and diet where high prevalence of caries are associated with a greater consumption of carbohydrates, while low rates are correlated with low carbohydrate diets or diets rich in proteins. 24 It is widely accepted that with the shift from hunter-gathering lifestyle with a diet mostly based on animal proteins to agriculture and crop growing a diet rich in carbohydrates was introduced resulting in a dramatic increase in caries rates.…”

“…[5][6][7]9,11,[22][23][24] Most paleodontological analyses agree on the correlation between caries rates and diet where high prevalence of caries are associated with a greater consumption of carbohydrates, while low rates are correlated with low carbohydrate diets or diets rich in proteins. 24 It is widely accepted that with the shift from hunter-gathering lifestyle with a diet mostly based on animal proteins to agriculture and crop growing a diet rich in carbohydrates was introduced resulting in a dramatic increase in caries rates. [54][55][56] Almost all early medieval written sources from Ireland agree that meat was a relatively rare commodity for commoners, while milk and dairy products were much more frequent.…”

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Additionally, some studies tried to determine longterm trends in general health by studying changes and variations in frequency and distribution of oral pathologies through time in a specific region. [20][21][22][23][24][25] Although there is a long tradition of osteoarchaeological research in Ireland 26 Objective: With the aim to get a better picture of dental health, diet and nutrition in early medieval Ireland a population-based study focusing on several attributes of oral health in adult individuals was conducted. The study focused on possible differences between sexes and age groups in terms of frequency and distribution of studied pathologies in order to determine whether these differences result from different diets, cultural practices or are age-related.…”

Skeletal and dental indicators of health in the late mediaeval (12–15th century) population from Nin, southern Croatia

“…The results of several studies Šlaus, 2006Šlaus et al, 2011) strongly indicate a deterioration of oral health, i.e. a significant increase of the frequencies of alveo-dental pathologies in the Middle Ages when compared to the antiquity in Croatia, which is explained by a significantly higher dependence on carbohydrates in the medieval diet and more protein in the late antiquity diet (Šlaus et al, 2011).…”